


ichor and honey

by liesmyth



Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: Book 1: The Cruel Prince, Extremely Dubious Consent, F/M, Something Made Them Do It, Vaginal Fingering, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:55:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26605579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liesmyth/pseuds/liesmyth
Summary: Balekin smiles. “Tell me, Jude Duarte. Do you think my brother handsome?”
Relationships: Jude Duarte/Balekin Greenbriar, Jude Duarte/Cardan Greenbriar
Comments: 23
Kudos: 138
Collections: Darkest Night 2020





	ichor and honey

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LamiaCalls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LamiaCalls/gifts).



“Well then. What do we have here?”

Balekin, firstborn of the king of Elfhame, looks at me like I’m a deer caught in a trap. I nearly made it out unseen: I scurried my way through Hollow Hall past dazed human servants and drunken fey guests, through Cardan’s bedchamber and Balekin’s private study, and it’s only bad luck that got me caught as I was about to slip away.

My heart hammers in my throat. Balekin looks intrigued, if on the cusp of anger. Prince Cardan, who hasn’t said a word, looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here.

I swallow.

“Madoc’s human ward,” Balekin says. “Traipsing in my Hall dressed like a servant. What are you hoping to achieve? Has your father sent you?”

“It was a prank,” I say quickly. The last thing I need is for Balekin to guess why I am here. “A silly prank. I thought… I was looking for Cardan’s rooms.”

“Were you,” Balekin mutters. When he speaks again, his words are charged with power. “Jude Duarte. Why are you in my home, truly?”

I cannot give myself away. I try to give my words the dazed cadence of a glamoured human, like the servants I saw rushing about Balekin’s house. I blink, as if waking up from a long sleep.

“I was looking for Cardan,” I say, my voice dreamy. “I hate him and his friends. I wanted to look for something I could use against him.”

Humans can lie in Faerie, but what I am saying is only the truth.

Balekin laughs. “Cardan did you hear? The mortal girl hates you. Can you believe it?”

I keep my gaze soft and stupid, awed eyes trailed on Balekin’s face. He laughs again.

“I don’t think it’s fair, don’t you brother? You’re still a son of the High King. Perhaps she should learn some manners,” Balekin says. “Isn’t that what you always wanted?”

Cardan doesn’t answer. It reminds me of the way he got the other day when Valerian fed me the faerie fruit, how he looked almost angry as the others tormented me, and then he joined in and was the cruellest of the whole lot.

“The human girl hates you,” Balekin repeats, like it’s delicious information. “Such a shame, isn’t it? She defies you openly for the entire Court to see. She makes you look like a spoiled child.” The corner of Balekin’s mouth curls upwards. “Not that she’s wrong in that.”

Cardan remains silent. I don’t look at him, keeping up my bewilderment like a shield, but I can imagine how his face must look. Cardan’s angry eyes, his cruel mouth. I swallow back the panic rising in my throat.

Then, Balekin smiles.

“Tell me, Jude Duarte. Do you think my brother handsome?”

“You’re all handsome,” I say readily, not even stopping to wonder what Balekin is playing at. He laughs.

“Especially to you, little mortal, isn’t that right?” And then, “Am I handsome to you?”

There is no guessing his intentions. I nod quickly, letting my eyes linger on Balekin’s owl-like eyes, his broad shoulders. He looks like his brother Cardan, and there’s no denying the physical beauty of his otherworldly features.

“I think you are pretty, for a mortal girl,” Balekin’s voice is low, sharing a secret. “Does that please you? You should be flattered.”

“I am,” I assure him. I smile flirtatiously, the way Taryn might when confronted with a handsome lord of the fey. I smile like I don’t have a care in the world. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, sweet thing. Now, pay attention to this.” Balekin’s voice changes; he turns to Cardan. “Look at this, brother.”

“Kiss me, Jude.”

I blink. “Really?”

“Of course, dearest. I know you want to.” His smile is sharp like a blade, and I could cut myself with it. Go on. “Make it good.”

I haven’t kissed many people before. I think of Locke, who looks at me like I'm worth something, and then I think of Cardan who’s watching the whole thing and saying nothing. I tilt my face like I’m an actor in one of those human shows Vivi watches, like a faerie at the reveries, caught up in the heat of it. I lose myself in the scent of Balekin's skin and imagine the taste of faerie fruit on his lips.

When I pull back, my heart is pounding.

“Was that all right?” I try to sound eager to please, studying Balekin's features in the hope of catching some boredom there. Maybe now that he's had what he wanted he'll let me go.

Balekin smacks his lips. “You’ll do,” he says. His smile is so brilliant it's blinding. “Now, you're going to kiss my brother.”

“What?”

That is Cardan’s voice. With the brothers’ attention intent on each other, I turn to look at him for the first time. He’s pale, his face pinched and mouth twisted like he just tasted something foul.

“I won't. I'm not.” Cardan speaks quickly, words stumbling out of his mouth in a rush. “You've had your fun, now let her go and let us go back to our day. I believe you were about to scold me.”

It's a strange echo of my own thoughts. I suppose I should be flattered that Cardan's distaste of me extends so far that he won't even consider having his way with me when I've been glamoured. I think of what Valerian might do in his place, and it's hard to repress a shiver.

“She’s mortal,” Cardan says again. “She’s hardly of consequence. Let her be and let’s—”

“Oh, I don’t think so.” Balekin’s voice hits me like a crack of thunder. “We’ve only just started, after all. Again, Jude,” he says. “Tell the truth now. Do you think my brother handsome?”

“He looks like you,” I answer, which is no answer at all. Of course Cardan is handsome, just like Balekin and Princess Elowyn and all of the Gentry, and I envy and I loathe them all.

“Let me tell you a secret. Just between you and me. And Cardan, I suppose.”

“Balekin,” Cardan says slowly, a warning.

Balekin ignores him. His silver eyes gleam. “When you say you hate my brother, you should know that he hates you as well. But not the way you hate him, I’ll wager. The way Cardan hates you—”

“ _Balekin_.”

“The way he hates you, it’s the kind of hate that burns through his loins. He’s always looking at you, little mortal. Today I will give him what he's always desired.” Then, “Go on, Jude. Kiss him.”

I never had a choice. I kiss Cardan because I’m ordered to, because even the slightest hesitancy would give me away. Cardan, for all his unease, yields to it quickly enough. His mouth opens against my own and his hands go to my waist, the back of my neck, brushing over my shoulder and up my back. He’s breathing harshly as he parts my lips open with his tongue, then pulls back to kiss the side of my mouth, the curve of my jaw. I’ve never been kissed like this before. Cardan moans when he steps away, and his cheeks are pink.

“Say thank you.”

“Thank you,” I say, breathless and kissed stupid, and it occurs me only later that it wasn't me Balekin was talking to. Cardan's hands are curled at his sides, and he looks at Balekin with pure hatred.

“See? We're all getting along,” Balekin says. “Now, brother, I think you should have your way with her.”

“ _No_.” Cardan's voice echoes my thoughts. “This has gone too far. You will send Jude away—”

“But Jude wants it. Don't you, sweet thing?”

I don't. I hate Cardan, even if it’s a messier kind of hatred than what I felt this morning, confused and tangled and painfully raw. I hate Balekin even more for all of this, and I hate how it’s all just a game to him. I am a mortal girl, and playing with me is just the day’s entertainment. The red-hot rage grows within me, filling my throat, so thick it’s choking me. I can barely speak.

“Yes,” I say, voice trembling. “I want it.”

Balekin claps his hands in front of him.

“See? That’s just perfect. Now, Cardan. Either you give it to her or I do. What will it be?”

“I don’t—”

“You could have sent her away any moment,” Balekin says coolly. “And yet you haven’t. She kissed you and you kissed her right back. Let’s not pretend you aren’t panting for this, brother. Send her away or do as I say.”

For a moment, everything stops. I stand there with my hands gripping my homespun dress, praying that Cardan despises me enough to send me away. Failing that, I pray that he likes me as much as his brother seems to think he does, maybe enough to put an end to it. If he does, I’ll be in his debt.

But Cardan is a cruel, selfish princeling. He wouldn’t throw away something he wants, not if it fell into his lap. I know what he’s going to say before he does.

“Jude.” His finger comes to tilt up my chin. I keep my gaze trailed to the floor, still playing at being docile. I don’t think I could disguise what I am feeling if I looked him in the eye.

“Jude,” Cardan says again. “Tell me you want me.”

Balekin laughs.

“I want you.” It’s a lie, but maybe not wholly. I think of the way Cardan kissed me, hard and hungry, like nobody else before him, and something coils hot inside of me.

He pushes up my homespun dress as he kisses me again. His greedy hand traces the curve of my hip, down to my inner thigh. I am wearing human underwear, though Cardan knows this already — our whole class has seen me with my clothes off, I remember, and the memory makes my anger flare up again. There's nowhere for it to go so I bite Cardan's mouth instead. He groans. _He likes it_ ; the thought is like a revelation. I bite him again as I arch against his hand, his warm fingers sliding against my cunt, soft and free of calluses. Not the hands of a warrior, I think nonsensically, and then I nearly laugh at how ridiculous this all is. Cardan is a good kisser, and his fingers are good too, rubbing at my clit like he's got something to prove. It feels nice, warmth blooming inside me, and if I close my eyes I can almost forget Balekin is there, watching us.

“You should fuck her.”

Or maybe not.

“That's everything you ever wanted from her, isn't that right? She'll thank you for it, enchanted as she is. You could spread her out on my carpet, make her crawl to you on the floor. Get her to ride you like she's desperate for it.”

I moan. I hate the effect those words have on me, heady and terrifying and delicious. I sway in Cardan's hold and tilt up my head into Cardan's kisses on my neck, thrusting my hips up into Cardan's touch.

“You could make her believe you're the only one she's ever wanted,” Balekin says, low and dark. “Then again, it's the only way you'll get her to touch you.“

Cardan stiffens. I can feel his body taut against my own, his shoulders hunched like he's trying to hide me from his brother's eyes, his hardness against my hip. He kisses me again, hungry and proprietary, up my neck and on my lips again. Until now, I never could have believed that cruel mouth could feel so good.

Until now, I never could have imagined any of this. This is far from anything I wished for when I whispered about boys with my sisters late at night, giggling as we curled up in Vivi's huge bed, but I suppose I must take what I can get. Balekin is still watching us, a Grackle to the last, but I know he will never tell anyone that I was able to sneak into Hollow Hall. Cardan is in lust with me and he let his whims keep doing from the decent thing, but now that I know this I can use it for my own ends. There’s a power to be found in this, I think, riding Cardan fingers, yielding to his kiss. There’s power, and I like that.

When I come my body trembles, but I don’t make a sound.

“Should we move that to the bedchamber?” Balekin’s silky voice makes a shiver run through me. I can still feel the shape of Cardan’s hard cock through his clothes and, in this moment, I don’t know what I want.

Cardan’s breath is drawn-out and heavy, rustling through my hair.

“No.”

“Then, brother, if you’re not going to—”

“ _No_ ,” Cardan says again, heavy and with finality. “No, you won’t touch her. Do what you will with me, but Jude is leaving now.”

He steps back. His touch lingers: a hand brushing my arm, the rustle of the air as he smells my hair. My dress falls down around my thighs again, but I feel cold.

“Jude,” Cardan says. “Jude, you’re… _Jude_.” He says my name like a prayer, like a sob. “You’re going to forget all of this. You won’t remember. You came to Hollow Hall to play a prank, you got what you wanted, and you’ll go home and lay down and wake up in the afternoon and never remember you ran into us. The next time you see me, you’re going to think you got away.”

“Yes,” I say, one last time, and then I’m free.

I slip out of the room without looking back, fearing the entire time that Balekin will decide to call me back inside. In the halls I nearly break into a run, my mind reeling and my legs weak, focusing all my willpower on putting one foot after the other. There will be time to think once I am safe outside, time to reflect on all I’ve learned tonight, about Cardan and Balekin and the letter I found on the large mahogany table. The copy I made was hasty and the writing must be smuggled by now, but it’s still safe in my bodice, and I breathe more easily when I think about it. Had Balekin thought to search me the evening would have ended much differently, but he underestimated me and so I am safe. I keep my head down so that my hair falls around my face as I slip out of the servants’ door and into the cool evening air.

The book is safe as well, the battered old copy of _Alice in Wonderland_ I stole from Cardan’s room. He must have felt the hard edges of it pressing against his ribs as he was kissing me, but he didn’t say a word. Another thing to keep in mind, and analyse later.

 _The next time you see me_ , Cardan said. The next time I see him I will be hard-pressed to keep my cool, but I can do it. I know his secret now, and I’m going to use it for all it’s worth.

My steps are light and sure. I grin to myself, and I find my way through the night.


End file.
